KNIGHT VISION

The newly-released Death Row Records boss also offers a veiled warning to anyone thinking about telling tales on him...

Just days after his release from prison, DEATH ROW RECORDS chief MARION ‘SUGE’ KNIGHT has been speaking about his plans for the future, his time inside and his thoughts on who killed TUPAC SHAKUR.

In an interview with MTV, the rap figurehead said while incarcerated he had learned: “Patience … to be a better judge of character. Coming from prison, you’re more appreciative,” he said. “Somebody gives you a bottle of water, you’re like, ‘Thank you’. Because that water means something. It might not be too good. It might not even be drinkable, but you know, you gotta do what you gotta do.”

Of Death Row Records, the former home of Dr Dre and Snoop Dogg, amongst others, Knight said that though he had changed its name to ‘Tha Row’ and lost some major artists, he intended to push ahead with a new generation.

“As far as Death Row Records, it’s always going to be Death Row, because I own my catalogue [and] my masters,” he explained. “You’ve got those classics from ‘All Eyez on Me’ to ‘Makaveli’ to ‘The Chronic’ to ‘Doggystyle’. It’s always going to be Death Row because of the catalogue. The catalogue is what you call the past, and the past is the past. Now it’s Tha Row. I feel like Death Row Records was great, it was fun. With Tha Row, it’s still the same logo, but it’s Tha Row. I’m proud of the new acts. I’m proud of the future. It’s time for changes.”

Knight was reluctant to be drawn on who he thinks killed Tupac. He was shot in Las Vegas in 1996 following a brawl in which Knight was involved – the brawl was a parole violation and it was for this that Knight was sentenced.

“I do not know who killed Tupac,” he said. “The thing about it is, everybody asks that question, and [it doesn’t] bother me, because they know I love ‘‘Pac. [I] still got love for ‘ ‘Pac, and I represent ‘Pac better than anybody who was ever close to him.”

When he asked if he believes, like others, that Orlando Anderson killed Tupac, he said: “What I believe is not important. I doubt that, but I’ll tell you this: Even if I did think that about anybody, it ain’t my job to snitch. I would never snitch on nobody. You have all these people that call themselves Christians, godly people, and they support telling. If you’re not man enough to believe in an eye for an eye, tooth for a tooth, then you’re ratting on them. I would never tell on nobody.”

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And in a veiled warning to anybody who may think about telling tales on him, Suge said: “In the ghetto, you see somebody do something and you tell on them, [then] you’re a snitch. In the suburbs, you see somebody do something and you tell on them, you’re an eyewitness. What they don’t understand is [that] they are still supposed to be from the ghetto, so they need to stop being snitches. Period.”